


I Can Hear Music

by thegodmachine



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Developing Relationship, Elves, Fluff, M/M, New York City, Santa Claus - Freeform, Senior Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 21:21:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5471213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegodmachine/pseuds/thegodmachine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Santas are just so..." Arthur waved his hand. "Only there for the cookies if you know what I mean."</i>
</p>
<p><i>"You're the only elf I know who would rather just cut Santa out."</i><br/> </p>
<p>The Christmas/college fic that nobody asked for where Arthur is a student elf and Eames is a student Santa.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Hear Music

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from [She & Him](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXAVcLp6p_8)/[Beach Boys song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlH3bZt9ooU).
> 
> I've wanted to write a holiday themed fanfic. I tried Halloween but personal life got in the way. For some reason whenever I'm writing a Christmas themed fanfic I write so much faster than normal. Anyway, I wanted to try a fun AU but the story got away from me and turned into this love letter to New York City.

"Arthur, you're not even listening," Ariadne sighed and tugged loose hair back behind a pointed ear.

He glanced up from his whittling and saw his friend sitting on his desk. She had shoved his notebooks aside without his notice.

"Sorry," Arthur said and placed his woodcarving on his desk. "I got distracted. I just really want to get this done before we start our final project."

"It looks pretty good," Ariadne said as she picked up his intricately carved wooden lion. "It’s your best one yet."

Arthur beamed at the compliment. Carpentry and whittling weren't popular skill sets amongst elves. In the digital age, most kids wanted tablets or video games for Christmas, which rendered Arthur's hobby nearly professionally obsolete, but Arthur still held tight the memory of his first visit to Old Saint Nick's workshop way back in his childhood. The workshop had been transformed into a museum, and all around the place were rocking-horses, wooden dolls, nutcrackers, race cars and all sorts of handmade toys on display. Arthur had wanted to play with everything. His adviser told him that because these skills weren't in demand, if he wanted any success, he would need to be the best darn carpenter an elf can be.

Whittling soon became an activity Arthur could easily do in his spare time, in between classes, or waiting in lines—it was so easy to just scrape away at a tiny Palm size block of wood.

"Thanks," he said to Ariadne and took the wooden lion back. "Almost done with it. I just can't get the face right."

"You'll get there," Ariadne encouraged.

"So what were you saying?" He asked and abandoned his attentions on the lion for the time being.

"Just my fear that we might not be able to work together for our senior project. I heard from Jack that last year Professor Arnet didn't let students pick their teams."

"Jack? Jack frost?" Arthur asked. "What does Jack Frost know about elf studies?"

"He's as old as Methuselah, he's got to have a lot of knowledge on elves and Santas," Ariadne said.

"I won't lie, I find it creepy that you're attracted to him," Arthur teased.

"He might be old but he doesn't look it," she said. "And have you seen him at the hot springs?"

Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I'm more dreading which Santa we'll get saddled with," he admitted.

Ariadne chuckled. "Oh mistletoe, you can't actually have Christmas without Santa Claus, Arthur. 'Saddled'," She snorted.

"Santas are just so..." Arthur waved his hand. "Only there for the cookies if you know what I mean."

"You're the only elf I know who would rather just cut Santa out."

"Christmas would be more efficient if we did," he defended.

Ariadne rolled her eyes.

"Christmas isn't about efficiency, Darling," a new voice joined in.

Arthur and Ariadne turned around to see Eames, a student in Santa studies, leaning in the desk behind him.

"Hey, Eames," Ariadne greeted.

"Munchkin," he acknowledged with a crooked smirk.

While Ariadne smiled, Arthur fought an eye roll. Eames was the pinnacle of all Arthur disliked about Santas. Eames was flashy, charismatic, and a big talker, but that was all. He always struck Arthur as flakey. They had worked together once in the sleigh-ride class and Eames just about drove Arthur nutcrackers with how little he took the class seriously. Every Santa around the world didn't take their Christmas rout alone. They always had Santa's Little Helper at their side to help deliver toys which was why each Santa student was paired up with an elf student in the senior project while the rest of the elf students worked on toys.

Arthur hadn't known better when it came to Eames when he accepted his partnership for sleigh training. But he soon came to dread that decision when Eames brushed off after school practice. Arthur ended up alone trying to wrangle up a couple of reindeer just to get a hand on how to properly drive a sled having never been in one before. Come their test day and Eames ended up the best damn sleigh driver in the class. What a show off. Meanwhile, Arthur had been so nervous, he nearly threw up. He fought a glare at that memory as he was reminded of why he didn't like Eames or Santas.

Eames turned his attention to Arthur. "Like I said Arthur, it's not about efficiency. It about the holiday cheer. The festivities. Kids line up to meet Santa. They write him letters. The very idea of him makes children happy. Sometimes it's not about the toys. Most of the time it's about everything else."

Arthur felt his face flush with embarrassment all the way up to the tips of his pointed ears. He didn't want to look at Eames anymore so he simply turned around in his seat and stared straight a ahead.

"Are you excited for this project, Eames?" Ariadne asked awkwardly when silence had befallen them. She and Eames were friendly and Arthur had speculated that maybe they had once dated before coming to college. Ariadne had explained that they were neighbors for two years in high school and had become friends when Eames moved next door.

"Oh very," Eames answered. "Though this project should be quite easy, I'm sure."

Arthur made a face annoyed at how smug he sounded.

"—But it will be fun."

"I can't wait to find out our groups. I just hope we get to pick them. Jack Frost told me..."

Arthur tuned them out. He really hated how Eames could just waltz up to Arthur and treat him like a kindergartner in Christmas studies. He hated how everything seemed to come so easily to Eames. Santas didn't have half the work that Elves had. Kids might like their photo taken with Santa and they may sing songs about him, but elves were pivotal to Christmas. Who ran the workshops? Who took care of the reindeer? Who baked the Christmas snacks, organized the naughty or nice list, and organized and made the toys? It was the elves.

For as long as Arthur lived, he had always wanted to be a Christmas elf. His parents thought it was adorable when he came home from that fated field trip declaring himself the greatest elf there ever will be, that was until he grew up. As a teenager, it was no longer cute and as a 21 year old, it was downright disappointing. Arthur's older sister had taken the Santa Claus course in school—Female Clauses weren't common which made her success all the more respectable—and she now has her very own Christmas rout in the south eastern part of Canada. Arthur's family would have had even more to put in their Christmas cards if Arthur could replicate the same success. But Arthur's heart wasn't in being a Santa clause. Santas were the most frivolous part of Christmas, not that he would ever say it to it his sister. But Eames just proved Arthur's point every time they interacted.

The class eventually began to settle down and when Arthur took stock of their environment, he saw that professor Arnet—head of the elf department—had entered the classroom with professor Kringle—head of the Santa department. He glanced behind to see that Ariadne and Eames had taken their seats and were staring at their professors as they prepared some paper work. Eames glanced over at Arthur and winked.

Arthur frowned at him before turning back to their professors and not a moment too soon as Professor Kringle cleared his throat. "Merry Christmas, Class. You made it. Your very final project before you are all fully fledged Professional Santa Clauses and Professional Christmas Elves."

The class cheered excitedly. Arthur couldn't help a genuine smile stretch across his face. He reached for his wooden lion and the soft basswood under his fingers brought forth all sorts of ideas for toys he could make. When school is all over and he began work at his first workshop, he thought of all sorts of rocking horse designs he could carve for the little children.

He glanced back at Ariadne who was a toy designer. She had notebooks filled with crazy ideas for a new toy. Arthur thought she was insanely talented and imagined her creativity would be in high demand. She gave him a fist pump in acknowledgment and when the class settled down, Arnet lifted up a stack of papers.

"Alright," she said. "Settle down guys. These are your project guidelines filled with your project specs and goals. Your performances at each job will be documented and observed by an elf on the shelf..." She gestured to an elf doll that was placed on the teacher’s desk behind her. "So do your best. Your teams have already been chosen..." Predictably the class groaned—Ariadne the loudest. "They are written on the announcement board outside so collect your assignment sheets from me before you leave and we encourage you to meet with your group right away. You have use of this classroom until the time class is normally over or you can leave. We will stick around if you have questions and you can always reach us during our office hours. That's it. Good luck. And Merry Christmas!"

Arthur quickly packed up his things grabbed his project sheet. He waited for Ariadne who subsequently waited for Eames and despite Arthur's disdain for Eames, the three of them walked out together. Their classmates were already crowding the announcement board. People screaming excitedly when they learned they were partnered with friends or groaning in disappointment at whoever was their team mate. When Arthur elbowed his way to the front—Ariadne elbowing harder was already there—he saw that the class was split nine ways into teams named after Saint Nick’s original reindeer. He felt a bit excited to see that he was team Rudolph but that was short lived when he saw who his Santa was.

"You've got be kidding me?" He groaned.

"Arthur, we’re not teammates," Ariadne cried. She hugged him and simultaneous pushed him out of the crowd. Eames had been standing behind Arthur and moved forward to check the list. He glanced up quickly and met Arthur's eyes. "What role did you get?" Ariadne asked. "Hey!" She blocked his view of Eames. "Peppermint sticks, Arthur. You never listen."

"Sorry," he groaned. "I didn't see what my job title is."

Eames saddled up to them. "What team are you, Ariadne?"

"Team Comet, hell yeah," she fist pump. "What team are you guys?"

"We're both team Rudolph," Eames answered.

"Wait; are you both on the same team?" She asked. Eames nodded. "No fair," Ariadne cried. "I got Santa Mal," she explained. "Do you know him?"

Eames nodded. "Mal is certifiably insane. You will love her."

Ariadne relaxed. "Well, that's good news at least."

Arthur grunted.

"Well what about you two? Arthur, what is your role? I'm a manager."

Arthur glanced at the announcement board. He hadn't read it. He had been too distracted by who he had been teamed with. He glanced at Eames who looked smug. Obviously he knew Arthur's role for their group. Arthur hoped he was manager like Ariadne. Arthur had always been organized and he had always been pretty good at telling other people what to do.

The crowd was smaller as people found their teams. He found his team name again on the board and read his role: Santa's Little Helper.

Their group consisted of six people: one Santa Claus, one Santa’s Little Helper, one elf manager, and three workshop elves. Arthur generally liked his group, aside from Eames whose very presence was bringing up his PTSD from their sleigh ride class. He had Saito who was in a lot of Arthur's managerial classes, which explained why Arthur didn't get that role in this group. Saito even scared Arthur with his efficiency in class. There was also Yusuf who was a toy designer like Ariadne. Arthur knew Yusuf mostly through her as they had become friends over shared homework assignments. The other two workshop elves alongside Yusuf were Robert—who Arthur was quite surprised to learn his first year had dropped out of Santa Studies, which to be fair was quite common for students to do so (he never understood why the Santa course inspired so many dropouts like it was hard) but Robert's father was quite reputable as a Santa and Robert probably faced more pressure than even Arthur to be successful there—and Sizzy who Arthur didn't know that we'll outside of reputation. If Arthur had a growing reputation for carpentry, then her reputation blew his out of the water for knitting. She was probably the most talented elf in the school in a specialized field and Arthur was incredibly jealous. Needles to say, their group would be producing a lot of sweaters and scarves.

They decided to meet up at the school cafe—Eames insisted. They gathered some plush chairs together and conquered a quiet corner for themselves. Before they could even open their mouths, Eames insisted on buying everyone beverages like he was some benevolent person. Arthur glanced at Saito hoping as a manager he would get their group back on track but he seemed quite content to get a free drink off Eames.

Everyone stated their orders and it was with impeccable skill that Eames seemed to memorize them but when it was Arthur's turn, he paused. "I'll just have a...coke."

Eames made a face. "That's not Christmas enough! You look like a pumpkin latte kind of guy." He turned and immediately made his way to the counter.

"What is that supposed mean?" Arthur shouted after him. He liked pumpkin and all, maybe even more than the average person when it was pumpkin cookies or pie but how exactly was coke not Christmas enough? Even polar bears drank coke on Christmas.

"Don’t take it so personally, Arthur," Sizzy giggled. "He's just teasing you. You know how he is."

"I don't even like coffee," he grumbled.

"That's not true. Ariadne always says you drink four cups of coffee a day," Yusuf cut in.

"I do not," he said. His family had a secret recipe for eggnog and he loved it. He was always packing eggnog in a thermos for exams. "It's eggnog."

"Why didn't you just get that if you love it so much," Yusuf asked.

"Yes, why deny yourself a drink you love when it's at the finances of someone else?" Saito asked.

"In other words, free is always better," Yusuf teased. "Mistletoe, you're so cheap, Saito."

"Frugal," he corrected. Arthur was glad the attention was off of him. He didn't want to explain that his family made delicious eggnog and nothing in his opinion could compete. Also, Eames had ordered eggnog and Arthur didn't want his commentary for ordering an identical drink. Arthur glanced at Sizzy who was staring after Eames as he stood in line, her cheeks rosy and completely uninterested in their conversation. Their sixth teammate, Robert had been quiet except for when he gave his drink order. There was always something quiet and nervous about Robert and Arthur suspected it might have to do with how dramatic his change in studies had been. His father had not accepted his son desiring to be a Christmas elf or at least as quietly as Arthur's family had and the whole school came to know Robert's family politics. It didn't help that Robert was already a mess after his first semester in Santa studies. In Arthur's opinion, Robert had never quite bounced back from their first year and Arthur hoped he wouldn't buckle under the pressure of their final project.

Eames returned and with perfect memory gave everyone their correct orders except for Arthur who he had changed to a pumpkin latte. Arthur frowned for which Eames simply smiled in return. Eames than amazed everyone by placing in the center of the table a cookie plate filled with different assortment of cookies.

"Oh Eames, that's so sweet of you," Sizzy said as she immediately reached for a gingerbread cookie.

"Guys, shouldn't we get started in the project?" Arthur asked. "There's a lot of work mmrgg!" Arthur couldn't even finish what he intended to say before Eames had shoved a cookie into his mouth. Arthur was only mildly annoyed because it was a snickerdoodle cookie; Arthur loved snickerdoodle.

"Patience is a virtue," Eames hummed at him before taking his seat. Arthur stares longingly at his eggnog before sipping his own pumpkin latte. Nope, he still didn't like coffee.

Everyone grabbed a few cookies—Saito the most—and relaxed a bit, except for Arthur who wanted nothing more than to get back to his dorm.

Eventually Eames pulled out his project sheet and everyone in the group seemed to finally settle down for business. It was incredibly frustrating for Arthur that Eames already seemed to have everyone's pulse and that they were ready to let him captain the ship. Sure he was their team's Santa...but he was just so 'Eames'. Arthur had hoped that Saito would take the reigns as elf manager and keeps the pace going, but he seemed satisfied with his free coffee and cookies.

"Alright, so it looks like we've been assigned New York City," Eames said.

This information didn't necessarily pertain to the entire group though it wasn't unknown for an entire elf team to show up for appearances, it was just most elves would rather focus every minute they have on making toys. Deadlines were deadlines after all. Mostly this information was important for Arthur and Eames who would be together for most of this project. 'Santa's Little Helper' was a coveted role for most elves, though not for Arthur. Santa's Little Helper in the professional world would ride with Santa on Christmas Eve and help him or her deliver the correct gifts to the correct house, but for their senior project, as Arthur read the project sheet, he was required to make public appearances with Santa—Eames—at shopping malls and hospitals. They would participate in a few charity events and hand out the toys made by their team to every boy and girl who visited them. It was a lot of work but their first step towards their career and despite the fact, Arthur was in a group with Eames or that his role was not one he personally coveted, he couldn't help but get excited by what he was reading.

"We get the Big Apple," Yusuf said. "Approximately 8 million people that we will be making toys for."

"I'm sure we're not the only group that get's New York City," Sizzy said. "There will be other Santa's doing their projects there. I bet that's a relief, Eames," She smiled at him.

"If you keep reading, we are only supposed to provide toys for specific events," Arthur explained. "Not 8 million people. It'll probably be more like a couple hundred people...depending on who shows up to meet Santa, and even then its not every event."

"That's more manageable," Saito sighed happily. Arthur raised an eyebrow. Saito was not what he expected him to be.

"So, since we are not sure which children will be arriving to meet Santa and what not," Sizzy grabbed a pen from her bag and began to underline sentences on the sheet and make notes in the margin. "We have to preemptively assume what kids will be asking for...so figure out popular brands. What are popular cartoons on TV? Video games?"

"I hate guessing," Saito said blandly.

"Are you kidding me?" Yusuf cried out. "Forget brands and video games. I'm a toy designer for Christmas-sakes. I should be inventing toys!"

"We only have two weeks, Yusuf. Not a whole year," Sizzy snarled.

"I'm with Yusuf—" Arthur never got finish what he said because Sizzy scoffed and turned to Eames.

"What do you think, Eames?" She asked.

Arthur and Yusuf met each other's eyes.

"Who cares what he thinks. He doesn't have to make them. We've been studying toy history, not him, we would know—" Arthur tried to argue.

"He has to give the kids their toys, Arthur," Sizzy said. "He should have a say. He doesn't want to be known as the worst Santa ever because he gave a kid a...melted piece of metal courtesy of Yusuf."

"I design toys not art installations, Sizzy," Yusuf snapped then grumbled, "'Melted piece of metal' my arse."

"Eames, what do you think?" Sizzy asked.

"Er..." He looked back and forth between the three elves that were up in arms. "Couldn't we do...both. In fact, I could make a list..."

"Sounds good to me," Saito said. They all glanced at him and saw that he had finished off the cookie plate. Arthur found himself very annoyed at that statement. Why let Eames make a list of toys? They were the elves. Toys were their domain.

"Seriously, Saito?" Arthur snapped. "You're head elf! Do you want to switch roles?"

Yusuf snorted but Saito just lazily smiled.

"Nah, Santa's Little Helper is too much work," he said.

"Yeah, you probably won't even have time to make any toys," Eames said.

Arthur glared at him. "I'm an elf, I'll make toys."

"Just don't tire yourself out," Eames said and took a sip of his eggnog. "You'll be with me for all these events."

"Can't wait," he groaned.

"But if you were offering to trade because you can't handle it..." Eames trailed off.

"I'll be fine," Arthur spoke as seriously as he could. He and Eames entered into a staring contest that was only eventually broken by Yusuf asking for clarification on what they should be making.

Eventually they all composed a list of toys that the workshop elves would begin to make immediately. There were a couple of large workshops on campus that they could make use off and a private toy shed for their group they would need to rent, but ultimately they would begin tomorrow.

Eames was one of the first to leave and as Arthur was walking out of the cafe, Sizzy called out to him.

"Hey Arthur," she said, "If you're still into trading positions, I'd be interested."

Arthur could tell she was desperately hoping he would say yes and as much as he would like to take her up on her offer, he couldn't now that Eames had challenged him.

  


Their first workshop day began without a hitch, mostly because Eames didn't need to be there though he had sent a group email early this morning which had a list of toys ranging from very unique to the very popular. They spent the first half of the day creating molds for a few of the brand name toys to the tune of Saito's Christmas playlist. Yusuf would shout at Sizzy 'No video games!' Which became a bit of a joke whenever Sizzy opened her mouth. She took it in good nature until lunchtime rolled around and hunger was turning everyone into abominable snowmen. By this point another group had filtered into the workshop and began to create their toy molds. Arthur was happy to see that it was Team Comet, Ariadne's team. She jumped excitedly into his arms when she saw him.

"Yes, at least we get to share a workshop!"

"That's a plus," he smiled. That and there were no Santas in sight."You guys got here pretty late?"

"Yeah," she snorted. "Yeah we were the second group to go work on our uniforms and then we got held up when Team Cupid came in. Mal is totally in love with their Santa, b-t-dubs. It was sickening...but so is our uniform." She laughed there. "I love it. I can't wait to see your elf uniform."

"Uniforms? Are we doing those today?" He asked. He looked over at his group who were covered in clay.

"Yeah, didn't Eames tell you guys? They got the schedule," Ariadne explained.

Arthur rolled his eyes, "of course he didn't."

"Don't be so hard on him Arthur. I'm sure he got distracted," She said. Arthur nodded not wanting to get into it about Eames, but this only reinforced how useless Santas were. If the schedule was given to him, he would've made sure everyone knew about it.

"I have to get back to my group. I have to keep their lazy butts in check!"

"Yeah right, Ari," one of her teammates yelled back.

Arthur chuckled and let her return back to work.

Eames came around lunchtime and hovered like he knew what they were actually doing. Despite Saito's surprisingly laziness—or 'major chill factor' as Ariadne called it last night during dinner when he described what happened at their first team meeting—he was working at a comparable pace to the rest of them. Robert worked the quickest but he looked a bit in his own world and Arthur wondered if he should force him to take a break.

Eventually Eames interrupted their work and called for a team huddle. Arthur was irritated to have his work interrupted, though in all fairness, most of his molds were setting and only a few were incomplete. He sprayed his clay sculpture before moving towards the semi circle his teammates had formed around Eames.

"So I just heard team from Davies in Team Prancer that they just got fitted for their uniforms. Team Vixen took our slot since we didn't show up so we are up after lunch."

"What?" Sizzy cried. "Uniforms! I didn't even think about those."

"Whose fault is that?" Arthur asked. He glared at Eames who glared back.

"We'll be fine. We've got over an hour, so let's get food." He encouraged.

"Yeah, let's take a break," Saito agreed. "Eames can make it up to us by buying lunch."

Eames rolled his eyes. "Sure," he agreed.

"Well I'm down," Yusuf said.

They began to move back to their stations and began to wrap up their unfinished molds for the duration of the lunch break.

Arthur turned back to Eames. "Is your head in this?"

"Of course, Darling, where else would it be?" He gave Arthur a fake wide smile. Arthur shook his head but didn't mention what he was thinking: 'up your ass.'

  


Eames bought them Chinese and they congregated outside the costume department. Vixen was still in there. Arthur didn’t much like the idea of getting his measurements taken after a big lunch.

After giving their leftovers to Saito, it was pretty much a waiting game before Team Vixen walked out. Arthur stared enviously at their team as they seemed like a professional bunch and he was stuck with...these guys. He glanced over at Yusuf who was being loud with Sizzy who couldn't make up her mind if she was flirting with Yusuf or Eames. There was Saito who was nowhere near his level of capability in their senior project as he would be in any other class project, Robert who was so quiet that Arthur sometimes forgot he was there, and finally Eames himself, Arthur's number one nemesis.

They walked into the costume department and Arthur recognized a few of the junior elf students who were volunteering to make their costumes.

"Hey guys," Misty greeted. She was closing Team Vixen's file and was waving them over. "Elves, over here. Santa, you go over with Charlie," She pushed Eames over to another table with another elf. "So here is the base design. Standard pine green shirt and sleigh red pants." She shows them her template. Just help me design your features. They began to collaborate on their uniform. There was only so much variety in traditional elf uniforms and soon they agreed on a green waist coat and dress pants, dark red dress shirt and even darker matching red tie and a green elf hat that matched their vests. They argued a bit more over material—needlessly, as it should only matter if it was comfortable. Misty then directed them to stand before her one at a time as she began to take their measurements.

When Arthur was done, he spared a glance to Eames who was still designing his Santa costume to Charlie. Arthur was annoyed that Eames was wasting valuable toy-making time by taking so long. They waited another seven minutes for Eames to finish his design and get his measurements taken but those seven minutes felt too valuable when they had hundreds of toys to make and only two weeks to do it all.

  


The next day, Team Rudolph began to unpack their sculptures and molds. Arthur was happy to see that the sculpture he was unable to finish the previous day hadn't dried out. He set a mini goal to finish sculpting and molding for this particular toy by lunch.

Saito had his playlist on again and Arthur hummed quietly under his breath along to Jingle Bell Rock. Everyone was working studiously which Arthur appreciated. It was nice to see his group act professional and it gave him hope that in spite of Eames they might get through this alright.

Ariadne's group arrived earlier than yesterday and they too dove into work without much fanfare. With the room crowded with the two groups it gave Arthur a bit of an idea of what It Might be like to work in the bustling nature of a true workshop.

With the morning going smooth, Arthur finished his sculpt faster than he thought he would and rushed over to the mold station. He might get to crack open one of his other molds before lunch and that would just make his day. He began creating his mold and placed it aside to for the plastic to set. He was excited now that he got to open a mold from yesterday but it was short lived as it became apparent that his mold had cracked and he had a huge ugly seem running down a few of her limbs.

He bit his tongue to keep from swearing. "My Barbie mold is ruined," he said to Yusuf who was working next to him.

"Rough," Yusuf said. He was threading hair through a plush doll head. "Do you have to start over?"

Arthur wanted to say no, that he could patch it but then considered he couldn't patch every piece his busted mold made. With a great sigh he nodded. "Yeah, I have to. Peppermint sticks."

He tossed his mold into the garage and grabbed another chunk of clay. Arthur was twenty minutes into his new sculpt when Robert threw his mold to the floor. Everyone in the room turned to look at him and the proficient atmosphere in the room ground to a stop.

"Robert!" Sizzy cried from next to him. "What are you doing?"

Robert glanced at all of them before turning tail and running from the room. Arthur was actually shocked and didn't notice Ariadne come up beside him.

"What was that?" She asked. "Is he alright?"

"I have no idea," he said. He glanced at Saito who was picking up the pieces from the mold that Robert had thrown.

"Busted mold," Saito said when Arthur came close. "Can you go check up on him? Make sure he's coming back? I'm going to restart this. We're already behind."

Arthur nodded. He didn't have time to appreciate 'efficient Saito' as he rushed off to find Robert. He could kick himself for not checking up on Robert sooner when he had noticed how quiet he was. Did the pressure get to him?

He found Robert outside sitting on some steps. He was making snow angels with his boots but what surprised Arthur was to see Eames sitting beside him. Eames was talking though Arthur couldn't hear him. Watching them from behind, it was quite obvious to Arthur that Eames really did seem quite familiar with Robert. Granted, Eames was a friendly person to most people, even Arthur could concede that, but right now seeing them together Arthur realized Eames must've known Robert fairly well. Robert did have a year of Santa studies under his belt.

Arthur wasn't sure what to do. They looked to be in a private moment. Arthur had no idea if Eames knew what had just happened and therefore was hesitant to leave Robert to him. He stood back and after a while, Eames stood up and patted Robert on his shoulder.

Arthur might not have heard what had been said earlier but he heard what Robert had to say now: "Thanks."

  


"Is he coming back?" Arthur asked quietly. He fell in step with Eames as they began to walk towards their workshop.

"Don't know?" Eames shrugged.

Arthur gritted his teeth and turned back towards the door Eames just came in from. He hadn't even made up his mind on what to do when Eames laid a hand across Arthur's body to rest on his far elbow as if to physically turn Arthur around if he took a step towards where Robert was, but Eames' touch was surprisingly gentle and that surprised Arthur.

"Don't," he said when Arthur glanced up at him. "Just give him a moment."

"We're falling behind," he said not necessarily sure why but just to say something.

Eames hmmed. "Well thankfully our group is amazingly talented."

Arthur snorted.

"I don't know if Robert will be back," Eames said after a moment. "We should prepare for the worst. I'll step in and try to help." Despite the fact that it was Eames offering and he truthfully wouldn't be any help as he never took a toy-making class, Arthur felt a begrudgingly grateful. With having to restart his mold and his eventual departure, Saito taking a break from His own work and restarting Robert's, and potentially losing Robert all together, their group was sure to fall behind.

They entered the workshop and were greeted with questions about Robert. Eames took control and got everyone back on track with the promise to everyone's personal assistant. He already rolled up his sleeves. Arthur bit the inside of his cheek to keep a smile from forming—a small one—and went back to his mold.

Eames went and bought everyone protein milkshakes to make lunch easier as team Rudolph decided to work through lunch. Arthur and Saito's sculpts were done around the same time so Arthur volunteered to create their molds so that Saito could return to his work. Eames followed him to the mold station and helped him prep the sculptures and hold the pieces together as Arthur poured melted plastic into the molds. Then Eames helped Arthur open another finished mold of his from the previous day and Arthur gave an audible sigh when the mold opened to no imperfections in the plastic form. They were well into the afternoon when the workshop door opened and Robert returned. His cheeks were very red when he realized that everyone was staring at him.

"Hey, Robert," Eames greeted breaking the awkwardness.

"Hi," Robert said quietly.

Arthur met Eames' eyes. He glanced back at Robert who looked like a deer in headlights.

"Back in time," Arthur said. "Can you help me crack open my mold? It's really heavy." Arthur had a third mold from yesterday for a large dinosaur. Robert nodded and people began to turn back to their work. Robert joined Arthur and helped use a crowbar to split open the mold. "Thanks," Arthur said. Robert just nodded. "Saito resculpted your piece," Arthur explained. "So don't worry about it. If you want to take it easy today, you could start on painting."

"I'm not an invalid, Arthur," Robert snapped.

Arthur bit his tongue. Thankfully they were a bit away from everyone else and no one immediately turned towards them. "I just thought after..."

"I can make my own toys," Robert continued to frown at Arthur. "I don't need you or Saito to hold my hand." He turned away and moved back to his workstation.

Arthur frowned, left behind with his plastic Barbie. He watched as Robert grabbed another slab of clay and began to sculpt violently. Feeling like an idiot, Arthur kept his head down hoping no one had noticed what had just happened.

A couple of days later, team Rudolph began moving their completed toys to their toy shed. After Robert's episode, he had kept his head down as much as before and did nothing but work. Once since then, Robert had joined them for lunch but had been as quiet as ever. Arthur felt guilty that their group wasn't more inclusive towards Robert or why he didn't seem uncomfortable interacting with them, but after what Robert had said to him, Arthur wasn't sure what was overstepping when it came to him.

Instead Arthur decided not to worry about Robert and hope that everything would continue to go smoothly. They were able to pick up the slack when Robert returned and were currently on schedule, and with the return of Robert, Eames became more elusive during work hours only stopping by for lunch and dinner.

Today was different because Misty had stopped by with two racks for teams Rudolph and Comet that held their uniforms.

Arthur alongside everyone else was eager to peek at them but Saito and Ariadne had agreed to wait for lunch. It was a bit distracting, the wait to see and try on their uniforms, and for once, Arthur was hoping Eames would drag his annoying butt over here so they could start their lunch break.

He eventually arrived accompanied by Mal, team Comet's Santa, who Arthur hadn't seen since they were split into their groups.

"Oh wow, they're done already," Eames said when he saw the rack.

"Courtesy of Misty," Yusuf said.

"Did you guys try them on yet?" Eames asked.

"Naw, we were waiting for you," Yusuf explained. Eames smiled widely. Everyone began to wash up then  gathered around their respected racks. Eames passed out the uniforms and as one large group both teams made their way towards the bathrooms.

Arthur absolutely loved his uniform when he had it on. He could already see Saito and thought the uniform looked quite dashing on him. When he walked into the hallway he saw that the design looked nice on Sizzy as well. Ariadne's team's uniforms were quite nice and very different; They were green sweaters with thin horizontal red stripes and delicate white snowflakes and completed with bright red jeans.

Ariadne modeled for him.

"Don't you look dapper," she said. "I assume you had a big hand in your design."

Arthur simply smiled wide. "Nice jeans."

"They're comfortable," she said. Their conversation turned to gossip over speculation of the other team uniforms, but it was quickly ended when Ariadne whistled.

Arthur turned around and saw Mal step out of the bathroom.

"Tell me I look marvelous," she said coquettishly.

"Wow, Mal, you look beautiful," Arthur said genuinely. There was nothing casual about Mal's Santa costume. She wore a thick red coat with gold fur trimming instead of white. The gold crept into the red in an intricate design towards the bottom of her coat and the middle of her back. Under the coat which she modeled for them she wore a beautiful red bodice and matching velvet leggings. Her hat was the most traditional piece as it was classic Santa aside from the return of the gold fur trim.

It was probably the most beautiful Santa uniform Arthur had ever seen. Everyone crowded around Mal to get a better look at her gold stitching which she seemed to enjoy.

"And there's Eames," Ariadne said. Arthur glanced up quickly and saw Eames join them in the hall. His uniform was more traditional but flashy in a very Eames way. He wore the traditional red jacket but from what Arthur could tell, underneath it was suspenders stretched across a golden yellow shirt. It was a very Eames choice, Arthur thought.

Eames joined them and Ariadne began to poke apart Eames costume in a playful manner and tried to invite Arthur into the jest.

"What's the matter, Darling?" Eames asked. "Impressed?"

Arthur snorted. "I can't believe you picked yellow."

"What's wrong with yellow?" Eames asked.

"It's not a Christmas color."

"Mal has yellow all over hers," Eames said.

"That's different. She's wearing gold," Arthur explained.

"So this would look better if I wore a gold shirt?" Eames seemed genuinely curious as if he cared what Arthur had to say on fashion.

"That would look even worse," Arthur said but knowing Eames he would still look fantastic in it.

"You however did a fabulous job designing your costume," Eames countered. He sounded genuine which made Arthur feel guilty for insulting his choice in yellow.

"Why do you assume these were my choices?" He asked.

Eames tugged on Arthur's vest as if adjusting it. Arthur was not use to Eames being so touchy-feely with him though he seemed to get physical with other students.

"Only Arthur would pick a vest for an elf uniform," he said fondly. Arthur hated that he was blushing. Around them, everyone else was moving back into the bathrooms to change into their normal clothes. Arthur turned to get changed but Eames grabbed his attention again.

“Tomorrow, we have our first appearance,” Eames said.

“First appearance?” For a moment Arthur had forgotten that he was Santa’s Little Helper. He sighed, hating the fact that he was about to abandon his elf mates to toy making on their own.

“Yeah, we’re doing a photo shoot with children,” Eames said. “I wanted to go over plans with you after dinner.”

That at least let Arthur finish the day off. He agreed. “We could meet at that cafe from earlier in the week.”

  


Their group went out for a quick dinner immediately after leaving the workshop hours later. Eames had disappeared after they tried on their uniforms and had lunch, for which Arthur certainly didn’t miss him. Saito began laying down plans to distribute Arthur’s toys among the other elves. Dinner was quick and Arthur relished the opportunity to drop his uniform off at the dorm. He wasn't looking forward to being alone with Eames, so he puttered around his kitchen uselessly before his innate punctuality demanded he leave for that cafe. He packed his own thermos not wanting Eames to insist on buying him another pumpkin latte.

At the cafe, Arthur was the first to arrive and the line for the register wasn't so long that Arthur thought he would take the opportunity to pay Eames back for all the food he had been buying. He bought Eames a large eggnog and gingerbread cookie and bought himself a cinnamon pumpkin cookie.

He laid Eames' treats in a designated spot at their table and took out his wooden lion to whittle more of the mane. He made sure to collect his shavings on a napkin.

He lost track of time when Eames threw himself in to the chair at their table.

"Sorry I am late," Eames said. "I had to run to the postal office."

Arthur shrugged. "S'fine."

Eames suddenly noticed Arthur's lion and stared at it for a moment. Arthur quickly packed it away, not wanting to discuss it with him.

"I bought you that," He gestured to the drink and cookie.

"You bought me eggnog? How sweet, Darling," he smiled into his mug. "Ahh, delicious."

Arthur looked away. Eames was always so flashy and big in his emotions and gestures. Arthur found him endlessly frustrating.

“You’re welcome,” He shrugged and took a sip from his thermos.

“What’s that?” Eames asked.

“I make my own eggnog,” Arthur said. Eames’ eyes widened and Arthur looked away. “It’s not a big deal. My mom is a chef.”

“She taught you how to make eggnog?” Eames asked and Arthur nodded. “That sounds nice…and knowing you, I’m sure it tastes perfect.” Eames smiled at him.

Arthur couldn’t meet his eyes as he placed his thermos on the table and shrugged.

“So where are what are we doing tomorrow?” He asked.

“Right, er,” Eames pulled his bag onto his lap and began to fish around for paperwork. He had received separate email from their teacher with specific details and had printed it out for Arthur to read. “Here is a map.”

“Map?” Arthur grabbed it. “This is Central Park…are we doing this in Central Park?”

“Uhuh,” Eames smiled widely.

“It’s going to be cold,” Arthur grumbled.

“Arthur, we live in the North Pole,” Arthur didn’t like how amused he sounded.

“I meant for the people,” he explained. “Who’s going to come to Central Park in winter to wait in line for Santa when they could go to a mall? Face it we got jipped.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Eames rolled his eyes. “Your lack of Christmas spirit is showing.”

“Stop saying that,” He grumbled.

“Here are my plans,” Eames pushed more papers into his hands. “We’re at Belvedere Castle, and we have the whole observation deck to ourselves. I’ve bought lights and rented some props from the theater department.” Arthur looked at his sketches and could tell that Eames had put a lot of thought into this. He had the layout of the castle observation deck where he sketched a giant tent with giant candy canes and gingerbread and other assorted types of Christmas themed decorations to make Belvedere Castle appear like a Christmas getaway.

“Wow,” He said. “You did a lot of work…” Eames looked proud. “Will we have time to get this set up?”

“Don’t worry about it. I asked Kringle about it, and she said I’m allowed to bring on other students for these things. So I’ve enlisted a couple of juniors to help us set it up tomorrow.” Arthur nodded. “We need to meet up at Shed 52 at 7 in the morning and transfer our supplies to Belvedere and set up. We are officially on the clock at 10am which is when Belvedere opens to the clock and we end at 5pm which is when it closes, and our lunch break is at noon of course. Does this all sound good?”

Arthur nodded still looking at Eames’ designs. “Yeah, can I keep these? I want to make sure I understand your vision.”

Eames nodded. “Yeah, those are copies. So remember 7am at shed 52, we’ll meet the others I wrangled up.”

“Yeah, I guess we should take an early night,” Arthur said. Eames eagerly finished his eggnog and nodded.

“Yes definitely,” He stood up. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, Darling.”

“Bye, Eames,” Arthur mumbled. He was still a bit distracted by Eames’ notes. This had to have taken a lot of planning; Eames had already found people to help him set up as well. Was this what he worked on when Arthur and the others were building toys?

  


Arthur had set his alarm for 5:15am. It was a horrible morning; he couldn't sleep very well last night whether it was from excitement of nerves and upon awaking, his mind was sluggish and his body already exhausted. He had no idea what could happen today, he still had reservations about being in Central Park and wasn't sure how many people would come so he decided to pack his wooden lion and some whittling tools in case he and Eames had downtime. For breakfast, he grabbed a brown bag for which he stuffed a chocolate chip muffin and then a second muffin a moment later. He poured himself some eggnog into his thermos and made sure to pack his elf costume nicely into his bag. When he trotted outside the dorm, the sun hadn't risen and the sky was still dark.

At shed 52, Eames was already there and another elf who Arthur recognized from his other classes. Arthur also knew she was in a theater with Eames.

"Morning," he yawned.

"You look lovely this morning, darling," Eames greeted.

"I look awful," Arthur complained. "I couldn't sleep. I'm actually really nervous about this."

"Don’t be. This is the fun side of Christmas," Eames said.

Arthur wanted to say 'for you,' but held his tongue. It was too early to get into a verbal sparring match with Eames. A couple minutes later, the other volunteers joined them. Their names were Bridget, Tomas, Alfie, Ansel, and Selena and most of them were Santas.

Everyone gave tired greetings and Eames unlocked the shed. They began moving all the props and decorations to the sleigh field. Eames in the lead led them to the sleigh he had rented out. He helped them pack a few of the props before talking on the role of setting up their reindeer. Arthur took in the responsibility of directing their volunteers with the rest of packing. When the shed was cleared out and Eames had finished setting up the reindeer, the five of them squeezed into the sled.

"Everyone ready?" Eames called out and without waiting for a response, directed the sled to lift off. Arthur squeezed the sled tightly in his sweaty hands remembering how nauseating he found sleigh-riding to be and had to remind himself that Eames had the top scores of their class.

"This is awesome!" Someone cried out from the back row. Arthur with much effort managed to open his eyes to catch sight of clouds well beneath them as they soared over ocean, then land and finally cities. Eames kept a steady grip on the reigns and the ride was mostly smooth. The most beautiful part, however, was the rising sun spreading light and color across the sky like a bleeding watercolor.

They touched down in Central Park close to Belvedere castle and began to unpack their props. The sun up, made setting up much easier. The five of them participated in pitching the large tents. It was painted like a gingerbread house on the exterior. Inside was white with silver snowflakes repeated across the walls. The decorations came next. Wreaths were hung, Christmas trees with attached ornaments were brought in to stand in the corners. Arthur took over managing the line construct and rolled out a red carpet and ropes to designate the path. Santa's large throne was placed in the back side with large candy props and nutcracker guards. Arthur was the photographer on this assignment and had a nice camera and stand connected to a laptop and printer. The most important decoration, though, was the elf on a shelf which they placed near Arthur's set up to watch and record their day. Arthur glanced at his watch and saw that it was twenty of ten. They had finished decorating and Eames told Alfie, a fellow Santa, to take the sleigh and pick them up at 7 tonight.

Arthur gave Eames the side eye wondering why he gave them a two hour extra window.

"Don't look so suspicious, darling," he said. "It's our first day in New York, let's eat out."

Arthur nodded. "We should probably change." As the other elves shuffled out, Arthur and Eames rummaged through their personal bags for their costumes and began to change. Arthur found his thermos and placed it by his set up and grabbed a muffin to snack on while they waited for people to arrive. Without speaking, he gave Eames his second muffin and scurried away to his side of the tent. Eames seemed to light up though Arthur fought very hard to not even acknowledge him and busied himself with eating his muffin. Finally he glanced over to see what Eames was up to and nearly laughed out loud when he saw Eames pull on a white beard.

"What are you doing?" He cried out.

"Becoming Santa?" Eames said confused.

"Nobody wears the white beard anymore?" There were millions of Santas in the world and 100 times more elves. Diversity had become a celebrated part of Christmas.

"Maybe I like tradition, ho, ho, ho!" Eames said bombastically.

"You have a thing for tradition, don't you?" Arthur asked remembering Eames speech about how Christmas was more than toys.

"I love tradition, especially Christmas tradition!" He then leaned forward and pressed his fake bearded face against Arthur's cheek and kissed him. "Merry Christmas!"

"What the hell, Eames?" Arthur cried.

"Look up, Darling."

Arthur did as he was told and saw that a mistletoe had been hung right above his set up.

"I hate you," he snapped and rubbed his cheek. Eames was such a child.

Fortunately they didn't have much more alone time as people began to peek their heads in and excitedly line up with their children to greet Santa and get their photos taken. The morning crowd was more crowded than Arthur expected but not overwhelmingly so. It was quite cold in New York today. They took a late lunch and Arthur went out and bought two hot dogs and two cokes from a vendor. They walked a bit around their immediate surroundings. There was a small lake half frozen over right at the base of the castle that they gazed at for a while. Eames seemed to have no problem plopping right down in the snow but Arthur was too self conscious of having a wet bottom or dirtying his uniform. When they went back to the tent, the crowd was lining up outside. Arthur let Eames get settled before allowing the line to enter the tent. The post lunch crowd had patches of downtime that allowed Arthur to take out his lion and whittle a bit more around the mane but when it was crowded, it was very crowded.

The children came in all ages, and expressed a wide range of emotions from fear to excitement to downright indifference and confusion when they were placed on Eames’ lap. Arthur found it hysterical as children broke out screaming and crying at Eames, and Eames trying to cover the panic at having a crying child in his lap. A lot of the photos came out quite awkward because of this, but then some children were quite calm in the presence of Santa and it was in these moments that Arthur could just take in Eames as Santa. He had a Saint Nick quality about him that came from more than just the beard. He hoped the elf on the shelf was capturing this, because in spite of Arthur’s feeling on Santas, Eames was doing a damn fine job at this.

They were coming up to the last stretch of the evening and Arthur became aware that the entire line who had been waiting for at least an hour were not going to get their photos taken before five. He could hear in the line behind him that customers were becoming aware of this as well.

“I’ve been waiting in line for over an hour,” He heard one lady mutter. “I can’t believe this.”

“Tell me about it. I don’t know if I can do this again,” Another said.

After the child currently on Eames’ lap had her photo taken and Arthur showed the mother her photos and printed them out for her, he went up to Eames.

“We have a long line of people to get through still,” He said. “And it’s already five.”

Eames glanced at the line. Arthur could tell he was tired. He had been sitting for hours without much opportunity to stretch his legs and there were strange children constantly being rotated in and out of his arms. His ear drums must have been shot at this point. Arthur was also feeling quite exhausted as he had been standing all day, but this wasn't the workshop and he wasn't calling the shots (not that he wouldn't do anything in his power to make Christmas wonderful for other people, but this was Eames' show).

“Let’s finish the line off,” Eames said.

“You sure? You’re not tired?” Arthur asked, though he agreed, that was probably the best decision. The line was starting to get angry and Arthur knew that ending now would ruin these people's day. But still it was impressive how quick Eames made that decision.

Eames smiled and shrugged. “No I’m alright. I can do this.”

Arthur nodded, trusting Eames on this. He knew his own limits.

He turned to the line and knew that Belvedere Castle closed at five so no new people would arrive. “Hey, everyone, we’re going to make sure that everyone already in line gets the opportunity to have your photo taken with Santa. So don't worry, we will get to all of you.”

There was a palpable feeling of relief as everyone could relax now. Arthur turned back to the camera and proceeded to photograph the next child. About halfway through the line and twenty minutes later, a woman had a newborn baby were standing behind his set up. From what Arthur could gather by eavesdropping on her conversation was that her son had just fallen asleep. Arthur turned around and saw that she was next in line.

"Oh no," she mumbled. Her own mother was with her. "I can't believe he fell asleep. He had been doing so well. Even after they decided to stay open later."

"Its okay," Her mother comforted. "He can have his photo taken asleep."

The young mother didn't seem to like that idea. "I wanted him awake..."

Her mother sighed. "What do you want to do? Leave?" she asked.

"I really do want him to have a picture with Santa. I can't take off any more work this week," she said.

While Arthur could appreciate this activity was popular, he couldn't fathom why having a picture with Santa was so important. Especially since the child was still a baby and wouldn't remember.

"I could always take him another time?" The grandmother suggested.

The young mother sighed and Arthur could tell that option was far from desirable.

"Well, you could still have his photo taken with Santa?" The grandmother suggested. "I've seen a few photos where the baby is sleeping in Santa's arms."

The mother rocked the baby gently and shrugged still clearly frustrated.

Arthur printed out the photo for the current family and then turned to the young mother and grandmother.

"You're up next," he smiled friendly.

"He's asleep, is that okay?" The young mother asked nervously. The grandmother hung back with the stroller.

Arthur nodded. "That's fine." He smiled. He was sure Eames wouldn't mind the change of pace by holding a sleeping child as opposed to a crying one. The woman walked up to Eames and gently transferred her sleeping child into his arms. The woman walked off frame and allowed Arthur to take a picture when the woman went to collect her child, Eames seemed to capture her in a quick conversation Arthur watched as her face lit up at something he said. Eames than turned to Arthur and motioned him over.

"Is everything alright?" He asked cautiously. Eames had a big personality and a tendency for spontaneity. The elf on the shelf was watching—big brother that thing was—and Arthur worried what unorthodox thing he was about to do.

"Always fretting, my elf," Eames said to the woman who smiled shyly. "But I like him that way. I wouldn't get anything done without him." Eames winked.

"What do you need, 'Santa'?" Arthur gritted out.

"We want to take another photo," the woman said. "Santa thought it would be fun if he pretended to be asleep with Joshua," she rocked her son, "lying on top of him."

Arthur kneaded his eyebrows wondering how this would go, but as Eames said, this was all part of the Christmas festivities and it was not Arthur's place to be a grinch. While he would much rather be at the workshop making toys, he had to remind himself that he was in Eames' world and would just have to follow his lead.

"I'll go grab the camera," he said. When he came back, Eames was rearranging himself on his chair so he fell into the classic 'sleeping on an easy-boy' pose and the woman gently transferred her child onto his chest. The baby instinctively closed a tiny fist on his beard.

Eames closed his eyes and Arthur counted down and took the photo.

The woman took back her child and joined the grandmother while Arthur transferred the photo to the computer. He let the woman look at her two photos and Arthur had to admit that the second one was quite cute. The woman thought so as well and wanted both printed.

"Thank you so much for this," she said to Arthur. "When Joshua fell asleep I was so heartbroken thinking this was all a bust." Arthur placed the photos in a Christmas card and handed them to her. "But these came out better than I thought. Thank you so much and Merry Christmas!"

Arthur smiled, "It was no problem."

They finished off the line and when the tent was empty aside from the two of them, Arthur booted down the laptop. Eames staggered towards him, clearly tired.

"Well done, Eames," he smiled lightly. "That was actually very nice what you did. I overheard her in line and she was very upset that she might not get a picture of her son with Santa Claus."

"Oh that was nothing, my arse was just starting to hurt," Eames said as he stretched. He smiled at Arthur who tugged the beard off his chin.

"Darling," he cried. "Now my face is naked and it's cold."

Arthur glanced at the elf on a shelf than glared at Eames for swearing in front if it.

"You're so violent when you're hungry," Eames continued. "Hurry up and get dressed."

Arthur did as was suggested it not because Eames said it but because he was tired and really just wanted to wear his comfortable clothes. Arthur thought they would strike the tent and decorations first but Eames now back in his regular wear grabbed Arthur's hand and began to tug him out.

"Eames, shouldn't we be taking everything down?" Arthur said confused.

"We will, but first we eat," he was still holding onto Arthur when they clamored outside of the castle. The sky was dark and in the middle of Central Park, Arthur could see the stars even more clearly than in the North Pole where the busy workshop lights, university life, and Christmas decorations lit up the sky and sometimes the days became so long that they didn't even have nights to see the stars though that was in the summer.

"Nice, huh?" Eames said close to his ear.

Arthur jerked back and saw that Eames was standing rather close to him and that he was still holding his wrist. Arthur blushed, hating that he did so easily and jerked his arm out of the other's grip.

Remembering the where and when he was he began to lay into Eames. "It's already 6 and your friends are picking us up at 7. We still have to take everything down. We don't have time to eat."

"Stop complaining and enjoy tonight, Arthur. Don't you ever have fun?"

"This is our senior project, Eames, not a Saturday night out with friends," Arthur snapped. "And stop saying I don't have fun. I have fun."

"Of course you do, Darling. My mistake," he said.

"I definitely have fun, Eames," Arthur snapped again. "And I know you're mocking me when you pretend to play along."

"Me!" Eames asked exaggerated.

Arthur rolled his eyes. If he has to spend any more time with Eames, his eyes will roll right out of his head.

"Where are we going to eat, Eames?" Arthur asked. "We are right in the middle of the park...the very large park, mind you."

"Let's just keep walking this way. 79th street is around here somewhere and we follow that until we see the lights."

Arthur was still skeptical but they proved to be very lucky when after ten minutes Eames led them to the aforementioned 79th street and was able to hail them a cab.

"Take us anywhere that serves the best hot drinks and food," Eames said.

Arthur was thankful he wasn't standing anymore and leaned his head against the window. Lights of the city suddenly started flashing and soon there were people and cars everywhere. Since Arthur was busy facing out the window, Eames kept a steady chatter with their cab driver who seemed to be running at Eames' energy pace. How was anyone so energetic?

The cab driver dropped them off outside a cafe and an outside menu promised sandwiches and soups. Eames held the door open for Arthur and upon entering they were blasted with warm air.

"Ah, heaven," Eames sighed.

"How do you have so much energy after that event?" Arthur asked. "Aren't you exhausted?"

"Yes, but more than that I'm antsy," Eames said. "I've been sitting all day and I've got all this pent up energy."

"You're going to crash tonight," Arthur said. They got in line and ordered each Panini. Eames ordered a hot chocolate and the smiled as Arthur ordered the same. If he yelled 'twins' Arthur might just run away from him. Fortunately he didn't and they grabbed a window spot.

"So..." Eames said after taking a bite of his sandwich. "Hot chocolate, eh?"

Arthur blushed, he remembered wanting to avoid this conversation at their first team meeting.

"I don't..." he sighed. "I don't like coffee...like at all."

"Like, like, like," Eames said idly and Arthur glared at him.

"Shut up," he said and bit into his sandwich angrily.

"I'll remember that," Eames promised.

"Huh?" Arthur asked.

"That you don't like coffee," he said.

"Why would you need to remember that?" Arthur asked baffled.

"Because we're friends," he explained and Arthur was shocked. "And friends remember things. Like that you love pumpkin flavored foods...just not in coffee." He smiled slyly at Arthur just leaving him very confused.

Friends?

Eames thought they were friends? Arthur supposed...maybe they were.

  


A late crowd began to fill up the café so Arthur and Eames decided to leave. They walked a few blocks, taking in the Christmas decorations. Wreaths hung from everywhere, like a wreath-elf just went to town on New York City. The trees had Christmas lights and large bows wrapped around their trunks. It all looked absolutely beautiful.

Now that he was full, Arthur felt full of goodwill and happily walked alongside Eames instead of nagging at him about the time, though it was coming up on 7pm.

"I have to say, New York is a little bit like the North Pole," Eames said.

"No it isn't," Arthur gave Eames a crazy look. "New York is nothing like the North Pole. The buildings are too tall, the city is too big. I mean, sure there's snow but I hear New York isn't snowy all the time."

"Oh Darling," Eames said fondly.

Arthur knew where this was going, "Enlighten me, oh wise one."

"Look around you, look at the lights and decorations, it's so festive here. Christmas is alive here like it is at home. I can feel it thrumming through my body like I'm a musical instrument. Can't you feel it? It makes me just want to burst...or sing!"

"Please don't. Did you drink spiked eggnog when I wasn't looking?" Arthur asked.

Eames just gave him a look and Arthur sighed.

He paused in walking and closed his eyes trying to capture what Eames felt. He shook his head. "I don't feel anything." Eames looked disappointed which made Arthur feel bad. "I'm really tired, maybe that's why." He shrugged.

Eames nodded though Arthur knew that reason didn't hold water with Eames. Arthur turned away and continued walking suddenly annoyed. So what if Arthur didn't feel like bursting or singing? What did that even mean and why did it seem to upset Eames so much?

"Hey," Eames said as he caught up to him. "Look over there!" He pointed up ahead and Arthur tried to figure out what had excited him.

"The horse?" He asked. Up ahead, parked on the side of the street was a red and white carriage which had a beautiful horse that was swishing his tail around.

"Let's ride it back to the park," Eames suggested.

Arthur glanced at his watch. The carriage wouldn't be as fast as a cab but the horse drawn carriage was what Eames wanted than the horse draw carriage it was. He nodded at Eames and made their way over to carriage. The carriage ride was more pleasant than the cab ride, Arthur gave it that. He felt like he was in a sleigh but without the flying. He glanced at Eames and saw that he had his eyes closed and was in a completely different world than Arthur. 

  


They were left off near the castle. Belvedere was already shut down for the night but Arthur got to witness some sweet Santa tricks as he unlocked the door.

"Impressive," Arthur teased. "Santa's skills are apparently interchangeable with a common criminal."

"Well if criminals are great with spreading Christmas cheer," Eames said, "Then maybe in another life."

They made it to the observation deck and saw their crew already there. The tent had already been taken down but there were still plenty of things left to be packed into the sleigh.

"You're late," Alfie snapped.

Eames held his hands up in an apologetic manner while Arthur apologized profusely.

 

Arthur made his way to the workshop the next morning. His body ached. In the workshop, he was one of the last to arrive for his group and he was impressed to see how much work they accomplished yesterday.

“How can I help?” He yawned.

Saito pointed to Yusuf. “Him. Go.”

Arthur walked over to Yusuf who was stitching a stuffed animal’s head on. “Great, you’re here,” Yusuf said harried. “Help me start stitching plush animals together."

Arthur nodded and got to work. He was a drone working on autopilot. It didn't take much thought on sewing for which Arthur was grateful. At some point today he and Eames would be leaving again for another excursion in New York City.

Around 10am, Eames came by to pick up Arthur and a bag of finished toys.

"Is today the first gift giving event?" Arthur asked surprised.

Eames nodded. Arthur felt excitement at that part and felt his energy levels rise with anticipation. This was the dream moment for elves: to see a child's face when they unwrapped their gifts. He helped Eames load the bag into their sleigh when Eames suggested they grab breakfast first. They went down to the school cafeteria and Eames explained that the gift giving would be in the late afternoon and that he wanted to do some sightseeing first.

When Arthur had finished eating, he scurried back to his dorm to get his uniform. Changed and full, he met Eames back at their sleigh where he had the reindeer prepped and ready. Alfie was there as well and Arthur assumed he was fulfilling the same role as yesterday; he would return the sleigh and then pick them up later. Arthur wondered what Eames promised to get favors like that, but then maybe this was what the Santa students do for one another. Maybe Eames had played this role for another graduating Santa?

"Good morning, Alfie," Arthur greeted.

"Morning, Arthur," he responded. He climbed into the backbench with the toys and Arthur sat beside Eames.

The flight was a bit better since their sleigh wasn't as crowded. Alfie was quiet in the background which for some reason intimidated Arthur from speaking.

They eventually landed back in Central Park and collected their toys. Much like the previous night they managed to snag a cab that Eames demanded take them to a shop in 5th avenue. Eames left Arthur in the cab while he ran into the building to drop off their load of toys. Ten minutes later he came back out and they made their way to Times Square.

Times Square was like nothing Arthur had ever seen at least in the North Pole. It was flashy and loud and very overwhelming. He moved close to Eames who seemed to enjoy the loudness of it all. Arthur supposed it had its appeal. There were all sorts of costumed characters walking around and taking pictures with people. Arthur and Eames in their uniforms had fit right in. There was a food truck close by and Arthur bought both of them cheesecake cones which they took to the red steps to enjoy.

"I think you're trying to fatten me up," Eames said when Arthur gave him his remains.

"Aren't you the one for tradition?" He asked, gently tugging on Eames' red coat. He wasn't wearing the white beard at the moment and Arthur couldn't help but notice his stubble. Maybe one day.

"True," Eames said then joyously ate the second cheesecake. Arthur turned away to hide his smile. Eames could be surprisingly not vain which Arthur didn't really expect from him. He always seemed so quirky in clothes that Arthur had assumed it was purposefully, but with his unshaven appearance and unsightly yellow shirt, Arthur was learning he was just adorably unconcerned with his look.

They people-watched a bit before joining the pedestrian crowd. They took a long cab drive to Broadway which was lit up fantastically.

"Would you like to see one of these, Arthur?" Eames asked.

"It's not like we have time," he shrugged.

"But after?" he asked.

"It's okay," Arthur said. "I'm not that into watching people sing...why are you looking at me like that?"

"You don't like music?" Eames looked absolutely horrified.

"I didn't say that," Arthur said. "I just don't like...live performances."

"So you don't sing or anything?" He asked. "What kind of elf are you?"

"An efficient one!" Arthur snapped. "I don't have time to sing or watch other people sing when I have to—"

"Shh, shhh," Eames cooed. "We can rectify this. We're not doing anything right now." Eames opened his mouth wide. " _You better watch out. You better not cry..._ "

Arthur cringed. What was he doing?

" _You better not pout. I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town..._ " Eames had a mischievous smile like he knew he was horrifying Arthur.

"Ugh," Arthur blushed. "Stop singing!"

"No! _Santa Claus is coming to town! Santa Claus issss coming to tooown! He sees—_ " Eames was joined by a stranger passing them by on the sidewalk. She was fiddling with her phone and didn't even spare either of them a glance but all the same, Eames face nearly split in two with how wide his grin became. " _He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good. So be good for goodness sake!_ "

"That song makes you sound so creepy, peeping on sleeping people," Arthur said.

"How about this one instead? _You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!_ "

"No," Arthur said.

" _You're a heel..._ "

"Eames," Arthur muttered.

"Then sing with me, Darling," Eames urged.

" _He's making a list, and checking it twice,_ " Eames sang boisterously and after a moment Arthur joined begrudgingly.

" _Gonna find out who's naughty and nice. Santa Claus is coming to town!_ " By the end they were both shouting. There was a scattered applause from the people who had stopped to watch a man dressed as Santa Claus and another dressed as an elf singing.

Arthur blushed and began to walk away. Eames chased after him.

"Arthur, wait up!"

"That was so embarrassing," Arthur cried.

"Why? Why were you embarrassed?"

"I don't like singing and they were all staring," he mumbled.

The corner of Eames' mouth flickered. Arthur wondered what he was thinking but Eames didn't give it away, instead he gently pulled Arthur close and hugged him.

"I'm sorry. I won't make you sing anymore," he said and Arthur felt ridiculous that such a small promise brought him so much relief.

Arthur nodded and stepped out of Eames' arms. His face was still red. He glanced at his watch. "It's nearly half past noon. What time do we need to be at the toy shop?" He asked.

"At two," he said. "There's one last place I want to show you before we head over there."

"Where?" He asked.

"It's a surprise," he smirked. He tugged on Arthur and hailed a cab. It was another long drive but eventually Arthur began to recognize buildings.

"The Empire State Building?" Arthur asked. "Should we be acting like tourists?" Especially when they were in the middle of their senior project.

"Yes," Eames said. "Now c'mon."

Arthur followed him into the building and road the elevator up. When they made it to the top, Arthur had to admit the view was nice. It wasn't as high as a view from a sleigh but Arthur could get motion sickness and preferred this one. He walked closer to the fence and looked out.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Eames asked.

"Yeah," Arthur agreed. "Look how big Central Park is. We could've gotten lost in there."

"What you call 'lost', I call 'exploring'," he said.

Arthur glanced over his shoulder at him only to realize that Eames was right behind him. Arthur was beginning to notice that Eames liked to get into his space. Arthur almost leaned into him but had some restraint. Eames moved closer and wrapped an arm over his shoulders. They gazed out at the city for a bit before a group of young adults crowded the area next to them armed with cell phones and selfie sticks. Eventually Arthur had the wherewithal to glance at his watch and realize time running out till their next event.

They practically ran down to the elevator and Eames nearly went chasing after a cab. The Empire State Building was much closer to their designation then Broadway was to the Empire State Building so the ride wasn't as long, but traffic had Arthur biting his lip nervously. If they were late, they would lose points and Arthur didn't want that for himself or did he want to be the cause for everyone else in their group. They were dropped off at the shop from earlier and they both went running in. Arthur paused almost immediately.

"Holy mistletoe! This place is amazing!" He cried. Eames turned back to him and smiled.

"Welcome to FAO Schwarz," he said. Arthur couldn't help but glance at all the toys and the urge to touch everything was a strong one. There were large displays and hanging ones, at one point they walked past a large row of piano keys that a couple of kids were walking on.

Eames had to practically tug Arthur to the back room where he had left their bag of toys. He pulled his white beard out and began put it on.

"Is my beard on straight?" Eames asked and Arthur helped him adjust it. Eames then pulled out the elf on a shelf and handed it to Arthur. "Make sure to find a good place for him." He said.

Arthur nodded and together with Eames carrying the bag they made their way to the designated Santa zone. It was decorated by the staff of the shop and Arthur thought it looked nice. There were large presents placed around as decoration and a beautifully carved wooden 'throne' for Eames. There were a few staff members about who greeted them and organizing the line of children and their families waiting to see Santa.

Arthur placed the elf in a shelf near a Christmas tree in the corner and looked around unsure if his role.

"Over here, Arthur," Eames called. "You're with me today."

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked.

"Help me give out gifts," Eames said. "I'll ask the child what they want and you reach in the bag and find it. Simple, right?" Arthur nodded, very nervous. Eventually the employee dressed as an elf began to let children come approach Eames. The first child excitedly climbed into Santa’s lap.

“Hi, Santa!” He said excitedly. He smiled so widely that Arthur could see that his front two teeth were missing.

"Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas, Timothy," Eames said. Arthur fought a snicker.

"Santa knows my name?" Timothy asked in awe.

"Of course I do, Timothy," Eames said. "Santa's been working very hard on his naughty and nice list."

"I've been very good, Santa Claus," Timothy said. "I've been nicer to my sister just like I promised and I've been helping my mom with chores."

"I know, Timmy," Eames said. I've read your Christmas letter." Timothy smiled at this. "Do you know what you asked me for Christmas this year?"

"Genesis Ranger action toy?" He asked excitedly, "I asked my dad for a bike, so I hope I didn't confuse you."

Arthur took this as his cue to dig through the bag and find Timmy's gift.

"Not at all, Timmy. In fact," he turned to Arthur who handed him the action hero.

"Oh wow! You really are Santa!" He said excitedly. "Merry Christmas, Timmy."

"Thanks, Santa," Timmy hugged him before jumping off his lap and running to his mother.

"Mom, look at what Santa got me!"

There were more children that they went through before Arthur realized that their was a specific gift for every child. More as Arthur dug through the toy back expecting it to be the time that a child's desire would not be fulfilled when he would grab hold of the specific toy that they had described. It was really quite impressive. Arthur remembered Eames being specific in the list he wrote when they had begun making toys but he hadn't expected they would hit repeated home runs like this.

They got through the day and Arthur found himself as baffled and amazed as the children were when they received their gift. Arthur remembered working on some of these and it was truly a joy to see their excitement for them but what kind of Santa magic did Eames work here to make sure every child left happy.

As they were packing up, Arthur turned towards Eames. "Alright, tell me. How did you know what these kids wanted? We had our toy discussion a week ago."

"I'm Santa Claus! I know what every child wants," he explained.

"Yes but how?" He asked. "You knew what they would ask for, you didn't just guess."

Eames had removed his wig and turned to Arthur with his face unobscured. Arthur had spent the entire day with Eames in Christmas suit but he looked surprisingly raw.

"Well...I've read their letters?" Eames said.

Arthur was confused. Letters? Did he mean Christmas letters?

"You read those?" He asked.

"What do you think I've been doing these past few days when you were working on toys? In fact, I've been at them for a while."

Arthur vaguely remembered a detail from a course his freshmen year that mentioned Santa's letters. Often times, it was the Santa students who organized letters for the proper Santa of a region or even responded if they were lucky enough to have an internship. Arthur hadn't cared very much to what his peers got up to and he supposed, he was a bit single minded on becoming an elf and neglected to retain knowledge of the other jobs that were necessary for Christmas.

To think of all the children in this city who wrote letters that Eames must've read, and how much work and research he put into compiling the toy list so that none of them would walk away disappointed.

"Oh," he said when he realized he hadn't responded. "That does explain it."

Eames clapped him on the shoulder. "But you had fun today, right? I mean this was the kind of stuff you wanted to see?"

Arthur nodded. "Yeah. I worked on some of those toys." And he got to see their joyous faces upon receiving said toy.

"It's always nice when someone appreciates your hard work," Eames agreed.

Arthur nodded, "But more than that, isn't Christmas supposed to be about giving?"

Arthur's life was toys, it was all he knew. He equated creating toys as 'giving', it was his biggest contribution. Entering into Eames' world was strange for him. Those kids lit up at seeing Eames even before he gave them their gifts. Eames knew something about Christmas that Arthur didn't, and he was finding it endlessly frustrating.

"I always thought of Christmas as being with people you care about or at least those are the parts I enjoy most," he had a small smile and Arthur wondered what his family must be like. Arthur’s family was okay, they weren't excessively proud of him and would rather he be a Santa like his sister, but he enjoyed time with them. Learning to bake cookies and make eggnog with his mother had been a fond memory and became a tradition in his household that they would bake Christmas morning. His sister use to join them until she became a Santa and Arthur realized that the tradition would end all together next Christmas when he joined a workshop. With that realization he also came to understand that baking with his mother was a Christmas tradition he participated in and valued. For all of his jeering when Eames spoke of tradition, this was one he would miss.

They left the impressive toy store and Arthur wondered what post-event activity Eames had in mind. Would he insist on a Broadway show because he wanted Arthur to hear live music or would want to walk through Central Park again?

"So what next?" He asked.

"I was thinking we could bring home dinner for our team. Celebrate everyone's hard work," he suggested.

"That sounds great," Arthur couldn't help but smile.

They stopped by a pizza joint and picked up five boxes. Afterwards, Arthur waited outside a cafe, his hands nice and toasty holding the boxes and the bag of excess toys and supplies at his feet, while Eames went in and collected beverages. Eames volunteered to carry the food and Arthur the bag which was significantly lighter after the gift giving.

They made it back to Central Park and Arthur thoroughly had enough of cab rides. Alfie was waiting for them at their sleigh and for all the annoyance he had with yesterday about returning late, his face lit up like a Christmas tree when Eames passed him a beverage.

  


They entered the workshop and Arthur saw that everyone was still working hard at making toys.

"You're back!" Sizzy cried. "How was it?"

"Is that pizza?"

Arthur jumped and saw Saito at his side looking at the food in Eames' arms.

"Yes," Eames said. Saito held out his hands and Eames gave him the pizza boxes and placed the drinks in the workshop table.

"Oh and welcome back," Saito said and took a large bite out of plain cheese pizza.

Yusuf and Robert came over.

"Don't tell me the battery operated monster truck was the most popular gift," he said. "I hate making cars." Yusuf grumbled.

"And don't tell me his weirdo rag dolls were popular. Those things were creepy," Sizzy said, clearly intending to egg Yusuf on.

"Just because I innovate doesn't mean my ideas are destined to fail," he turned to Arthur. "She's been snipping at me all day. I suppose I should ignore it since it's clearly jealousy—"

"Jealousy?" Sizzy cried.

Arthur turned away from them, letting their voices wash over him and helped himself to a slice of pizza. The other side of the workshop seemed to cleaning up so Arthur went over to check up on Ariadne.

"How's everything going as manager?" He asked. She looked exhausted.

"Oh it's great, Arthur," she said and wiped her forehead, leaving a smudge of paint. "Tell me, why did you covet this role?"

"He laughed, knowing Ariadne didn't like rigid structure and having to reinforce that in others was probably particularly stressful.

"Would you like some pizza? You look like you're about to pass out."

"Nah, it's fine, Mal came in just before you guys. She invited us to her dorm to cook for us. As soon as I'm done cleaning, I'm gonna head out to take a shower."

"That sounds great. Looks like your team is really getting along," Arthur said.

Ariadne looked out at her group and smiled fondly. "Yeah I'm quite fond of their crazy asses. But what about you? You haven't killed Eames yet."

Arthur looked over at his team and saw them gathering around Eames as he began to gesticulate widely.

"It's been...interesting," he mumbled.

Ariadne bit her lip to fight a smile and nodded.

"We should definitely meet up this weekend Arthur," she said. "Cook dinner together or something."

Arthur agreed then said goodbye as she went back to cleaning her workstation.

Yusuf had turned up the radio and the Christmas songs caught his attention. He glanced at Eames who looked over at him and smiled. Arthur shook his head at him thinking of their impromptu singing session from earlier. Eames was so impulsive.

Eames made his way to Arthur and handed him a beverage.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Hot chocolate. I told you I would remember," he said.

"It was only yesterday," Arthur said but took a sip.

"Was it? Yesterday seems so long ago," he said. They joined the rest of their group and Arthur couldn't even look at Eames or fight the warmth crawling into his cheeks when Sizzy and Eames began to sing along to the radio. Saito ended up finishing an entire box on his own and Yusuf complained about today's youth not knowing good toys which prompted Sizzy to stop singing and tell him he sounded fifty, and Robert, well Arthur noticed that he smiled at their antics and seemed the most relaxed Arthur had ever seen him.

"You never told us how it went?" Sizzy asked. The question seemed directed to Arthur despite the fact it was Eames she had just been singing with.

"It was really nice," he said.

"But how were the kids? What were their favorite toys?" She asked.

"Did any child ask for a 3DS?" Yusuf asked. "If they did you should have given them a lump of coal."

"No one asked for anything like that?" Arthur laughed. "I think the most popular toy was the talking dog in a firefighter uniform."

"You're welcome," Saito smiled proudly.

"You just did the plastic molding, Saito," Sizzy rolled her eyes. "Yusuf attached the 'fur' coat and Robert did the animatronics."

"But it was fun, right?" Robert asked, ignoring Sizzy, and Arthur blinked. Robert wasn't looking at Arthur but at Eames.

"Oh yes," Eames said. "You should have seen the toy store. I was worried I wouldn't be able to convince Arthur to leave."

"It was a very nice toy shop," Arthur explained.

"You're so lucky Arthur," Sizzy sighed. "Santa's Little Helper is my dream job. It sounds like so much fun."

"Are we not fun?" Yusuf snorted.

"Not at all," She scowled.

"Well we have a few more gift giving days," Eames said. "If we remain ahead of production schedule, you would probably be able to come along."

"Remain ahead of schedule," Yusuf snorted.

"Yes, 'remain'. You guys are doing great," Eames said.

Arthur nodded. The group became excited at the prospect of appearing on a gift giving day and as the evening wound down, Arthur collected the empty pizza boxes and drinks and began to take them out to the dumpsters.

When he came back, the group was cleaning the stations having not done so earlier. Eames was helping Yusuf so Arthur quickly joined in.

When the workshop was clean and everyone began to part ways, Saito reminded them that they had tomorrow, Saturday, off but that they would return to work on Sunday. They must have decided this while Arthur and Eames were out. Arthur began to walk towards his dorm and was surprised when Eames shouted for him.

"Arthur, wait," he said.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. Eames lived on the other side of campus.

"Are you not returning to your dorm?" He asked confused.

"It's not that late," Eames said. "I think I might walk around for a bit. Figured I might walk with you to your dorm if you don't mind."

Arthur was surprised that he didn't. "No, I don't mind."

Eames shoved his hands into his pockets and they walked quietly for a bit. When they reached his dorm Arthur turned to Eames and was tempted to invite him up. Ariadne had given him a knowing smile earlier and Arthur was confident enough to admit that he had enjoyed spending time with Eames, even when he did sing or embarrass Arthur.

"Eames," he spoke at the same time Eames had said 'Arthur.'

They both waited for the other to continue and Arthur chuckled lightly.

"Arthur," Eames said and stepped closer. Arthur was use to Eames lack of personal space by now. "I...today was fun."

"It was," Arthur agreed.

Eames chewed in his lip before leaning in closer. They didn't kiss right away like Eames was waiting for Arthur to push him away and when he didn't, their lips met.

Arthur's brain went fuzzy and all rational thoughts went out the window. When Eames broke the kiss, His cheeks were red and Arthur was sure his were red as well. Arthur didn't speak. He didn't know what to say.

"Goodnight, Arthur," he said and quickly turned away. Arthur watched him leave confused. He turned to enter his dorm but it was a quick glance upward that caused his stomach to plummet. Above him hanging from the awning above his dorm's door was mistletoe.

  


Having a day off was nice and it gave Arthur some much needed peace. He played with his wooden lion a bit. It was done though he was loath to admit it. It was always a tough call of when to just stop. Arthur supposed he would work on his lion figurine forever if he could. He placed it in the middle of the table a thought occurred to him that he should start a new wood carving, but he honestly felt so zapped. So much time and attention had gone into it that little figurine and at the moment to start anew was quite daunting.

Though something more than exhaustion was informing his listless mood. Arthur couldn't take his mind off the kiss and felt silly for it. Clearly Eames was a man of tradition and couldn't resist the call of the mistletoe. He had already kissed Arthur earlier but last night had been different. But to Eames, he had just had been following Christmas tradition and so Arthur should stop thinking about it. He also decided that because it was no big deal there was no point in sharing it with Ariadne. Arthur would just have to make sure to not get caught under mistletoe with Eames again.

He nodded to himself as if that resolution made him feel better. He ignored a pang in his chest and decided to invite Ariadne over.

They watched TV for a bit before going out to the campus convenience store and buying some baking ingredients. They spent the evening making different types of cookies. He packaged half of them for her to take home but in the end, she ended up spending the night.

 

Monday came and Arthur remembered vaguely that he and Eames had another event to attend. Arthur hadn't seen him Sunday at the workshop but at least now he understood what he was up to when not around.

Arthur only just arrived at the workshop with the intent to at least help with sewing but Eames was already there. He was talking with Saito as the other elf worked. Arthur walked over to them and caught on to the tail end of the conversation.

“So Thursday seems doable?” Eames said.

Saito grunted. “I imagine it will be 'doable', yes.”

“Great…” He caught sight of Arthur and leaned away from Saito.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Everything okay?” He asked.

Eames nodded. “Yeah, we were just talking about the team’s progress.”

Arthur nodded feeling guilty he couldn't contribute more attention to building toys as well. Santa's Little Helper is not a job he would've picked for himself had he the choice, though he could admit he was enjoying himself in their outings and for that he felt guilty.

"I hope everything is going well?" He asked Saito.

"Everything has fallen apart since you left us, Arthur."

Arthur turned to Sizzy who was carrying a basket of finished toys to the side of the room. She smiled at Arthur and he knew she was only joking.

"Seriously, Arthur, stop worrying about us," she said. "Despite our fears last week. We are doing quite okay as far as pacing goes," she explained.

"Yes, but if you feel truly guilty," Saito said, "you can continue serve penance by bringing us more pizza."

Sizzy rolled her eyes and went back to work.

"You got it, boss," Arthur said to Saito who nodded sternly—a face too serious for a conversation about free pizza.

Arthur turned back to Eames who was watching them a soft smile in his lips and Arthur fought a shiver at the memory of those lips in his. There was no point in acknowledging that Eames was a talented kisser. They were if anything only friends but he shouldn't get his hopes up for more.

Arthur coughed awkwardly and straightened out his thoughts. "What are we doing today?" He asked.

"Today is another Santa photo shoot," he explained.

"In Central Park?" He asked thinking of the set design they did.

"No, this time we're at a shopping center," he explained. "The employees will have designed and decorated an area for us. They'll have everything we need."

Arthur relaxed. The first day had been a bit overwhelming with all the prop set up.

They began to make their way down to the sleigh field and as expected Alfie was waiting for them. It was still curious as to why Alfie volunteered so much time to help them. This couldn't be fun.

Alfie dropped them off in Central Park and because they had time to spare, they decided to explore more of the park then they had seen yet. The wildlife was pretty extensive and at one point, Eames threw a snowball at Arthur. Arthur was unimpressed and proceeded to show Eames just how great his aim was. Eventually they left for the city and settled on a burger joint for an early lunch.

Saks Fifth Avenue, was quite impressively upscale. Huge Christmas trees decorated with white bulbs and gold tinsel. Large wreaths, red ribbons, and shimmering flakes of white that hung down from the ceiling like snow. The clientele were clearly wealthy though when they arrived at the Santa location, Arthur was happy to see that the line forming had people dressed in all sorts of ways clearly from different backgrounds and all excited to see Santa. Eames prepared his beard and Arthur, having already placed the elf on the shelf in front of his area, familiarized himself with the camera equipment and laptop.

This time around everything went a lot smoother especially with the aid of store employees. The crowd was larger than their first day in Central Park but Arthur supposed that would be expected as they were currently in a more accessible mall. They took a shortened break in which Arthur ran to a restaurant and grabbed some sandwiches and drinks to go for Eames and him to share.

The day continued on as the afternoon wound down, Arthur was impressed that the line wasn't that backed up. They finished everyone up and as Arthur was about to start packing up, he stopped at Eames' request that he wait a minute.

Eames turned to one of the mall employees. "Would you mind taking one of the two of us?" He gestured to Arthur.

She smiled. "Oh aren't you two cute. Sure," she turned to camera station and Arthur showed her the controls without much thought. His brain overloading at the the idea of taking a picture with Eames. He numbly walked over to Eames who kept his beard on and awkwardly stood beside Santa's large chair.

"No, not like that," Eames tugged on Arthur's wrist and found himself tumbling into Eames' lap. The girl laughed though Arthur was blushing and his heart pounding and couldn't give much thought to his environment. He tried to get up but Eames just tightened his hold before instantly relaxing, allowing Arthur to move away if he wished. Arthur froze. He glanced above them and didn't see any mistletoe. He relaxed at that and then felt a tinge of guilt for being so...him. He sat up straighter still in Eames' lap and smiled for the camera.

The girl took their photo and Arthur jumped out of Eames' lap.

"It came out great," the girl gushed. "Seriously that is one of the cutest things I've seen all day and I own a puppy."

"Thanks," Arthur blushed and Eames finally took off his fake beard. Arthur thought Eames might've been blushing but he did have his usual smug smile. Arthur looked at the photo that the girl took the liberty of printing and found it absolutely ridiculous. Arthur was too big to be sitting in anyone's lap.

The girl left his side to talk to Eames and he could vaguely hear her thank Eames for them coming by and how the children and their families loved the opportunity to meet 'Santa.' Arthur glanced over and thought amused, 'they don't know.' Eames might not be Kris Kringle; His beard might be fake, and he might be still a student, but he was Santa. Arthur picked up the photo and pocketed it. He was Santa in every way.

It was expected that Eames wouldn't want to go home right away. What he did that had Alfie waiting around their schedule, Arthur was very curious to know. They didn't bother hailing a cab, in fact Eames only meant to cross the street as the place he wanted to take Arthur to was just a block away. They walked upon a giant tree that stood above a large skating rink.

"Rockefeller Center," Eames said.

"Mistletoe! That tree is huge," Arthur said. There were some large trees decorated in the North Pole but it was still breathtaking to see another one.

"80 footer," Eames said.

"Are we going skating?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah, for a little bit then we'll bring Saito his pizza," Eames chuckled.

They bought their skate package and got their skates on. They had to wait a bit before they were allowed on the ice. The sun was setting and it lent a pink hue over their environment. Arthur thought Eames looked positively lovely in the evening lighting though he would never admit it allowed. Eames' face lent itself well to natural lighting. Arthur felt stupid for where his line of thought took him and tried his best to concentrate on not falling instead. He was not particularly great at skating and was a bit wobbly. Eames was quite good and skated circles around him. Maybe once upon a time Arthur would have been frustrated at Eames being so talented at something Arthur was so abysmal at. He thought of their sleigh class from years ago.

He looked at Eames and how confident he looked on the ice and instinctive reached out for him. Eames met him halfway and held Arthur's hands as he slowly grew more confident on the ice.

"Have you ever skated before?" He asked. He pulled Arthur along gently.

"Only once," Arthur said. "When I was a child."

"Is it as you remembered?" he asked.

"It's a little harder," he admitted and blushed. "You're really good at this."

"I go skating with my little sister, sometimes," Eames explained. "She figure skates."

Arthur perked up at that little bit of information. He didn't know much of Eames, not really.

"You have a sister?" He asked.

"And a little brother. I'm the oldest."

"I have an older sister," Arthur explained. "She's a Santa clause."

Eames led them through a figure eight.

"Are you the baby?" He asked with a smile.

"Yes. Why are you smiling?"

"Nothing, I'm just really happy," he said.

"You're not tired?" Arthur asked once again impressed with energy.

"A little, not as bad the first day, though. Thankfully we don't have props to pack up."

"Forget about the elf on the shelf?" Arthur asked. He was currently in a Rockefeller Center locker at the moment.

"Those things are creepy," Eames fake shivered and Arthur laughed.

"I thought elf on the shelves helped with the naughty or nice lists?"

"Apparently, but that doesn't mean I see them that often," Eames said.

"Hey Eames, how were you able to get Alfie and the others to help us? I mean it's not like they have to."

"No but it's just a thing underclass men do for seniors: drive the sleighs. I did it my freshmen year." Did that explain why Eames abandoned him that year? "My dad taught me. He was a really talented Santa. I'd like to inherit his workshop one day."

"Did you always want to be a Santa?" He asked. He was skating more confidently and was now skating side by side with Eames.

"Yeah, as long as I remember. I was always at my dad's workshop watching everything and Christmas was pretty much spent coaxing stories out of my dad about his runs. What about you?"

"I've always wanted to be an elf much to my parent’s frustrations," he said. "They would rather I was a Santa."

"Well, for what it's worth, I’m glad you're not a Santa. Otherwise we wouldn't be in the same team."

"It's almost like we were destined to be partners," Arthur joked.

"Darling, we are written in the stars," he said.

 

The next day Arthur and Eames did not have activities to attend and so Arthur went to the workshop to help the team. There were no hiccups in their schedule and he was impressed with how well their work was coming along. Even Robert looked to be doing well and in Zone. There was no more nervousness surrounding him that there had been that first day.

It was following day that Arthur became aware that the next gift giving day the whole team would come along.

"Really?" He asked surprised but then he remembered Eames talking to Saito about their production schedule.

Sizzy nodded emphatically. "Yes, this is so exciting?"

Even Yusuf had a smile at the announcement.

"We must keep on schedule though so don't waste today," Saito said.

They nodded and set off to work. At lunch Eames stopped by. He talked to everyone, arriving at Arthur's station last. Arthur was currently carving out the lid for a jewelry box.

"You look more in your element than I've ever seen you," Eames said.

Arthur glanced at him. "I love carpentry. This is the first project since I've been at the workshop to involve wood," he said.

"I read the list, and thought of you," Eames smiled. Arthur glanced at him and saw that Eames looked a bit entranced by Arthur's hands which were currently covered sawdust and splinters.

"I'm glad you did," Arthur said.

"I think the little girl who asked for this will be quite happy to have an Arthur original," Eames smiled. Arthur wondered how sure he was that the little girl should arrive for a gift giving day but let it slide as part of his Santa-six-sense.

 

It was weird when as a group they made their way to the sleigh field. The sleigh was crowded with all five members plus the ever patient Alfie who was loyally fulfilling his duty to watch over the sleigh. They left early enough to give their group a bit of time to explore the park and then packed into two cabs that dropped them off at Macy's Herald Square.

It was amusing to Arthur to see that his fellow elves had much the same reaction to some of the departments that he had when he entered FAO Schwarz.

"Why are there Elsa dolls everywhere?" Yusuf asked. There was a vague disgust in his voice but a quick glance at his face displayed it at a hundred percent.

"Because that movie is very popular..." Sizzy answered confused. "Does that upset you?"

"What is wrong with today's youth?" He grumbled.

Sizzy rolled her eyes. "Yusuf, lighten up."

As if any member of team Rudolph was surprised that Sizzy and Yusuf started arguing. Arthur wondered if it was their turn to stand under a mistletoe and then quickly erased the thought.

As they walked around the store, they got a lot of attention for their uniforms. Arthur supposed he and Eames didn't stand out that much on their own but as a group in matching clothes, he could already see children turning their heads to watch them walk past and hear the adults murmur their theories about them. He was happy, however, to see everyone's faces light up.

The Santa zone which has been beautifully decorated like a cozy living room from the early nineteen hundreds—fake fireplace and mantle, a Christmas tree, and oval shaped rug—was on the second floor and, Arthur thought it was as nicely decorated as the Santa zone at Saks Fifth Avenue.

They were welcomed by the floor manager and introduced to the employees who would aid them today. Eames moved immediately to a rocking chair and Arthur was amused by his satisfied smile.

As Eames got comfortable in his Santa chair, Arthur explained to Saito his roll last time at Eames' side and Saito in turn suggested they do rounds in that position and that the others could take turns managing the lines and entertaining children as they waited. A big smile spread over one of Macy's employees who had over heard and could take the implication that that their workload would be much lighter than they had anticipated.

The gift giving went underway and Arthur began at Eames side. He was actually growing fond of watching Eames in his santa mode as he interacted with the children, and Arthur now knew that Eames had probably read a lot of these children's letters. After an hour he switched with Yusuf and joined the other elves in entertaining the line. Sizzy was singing with a little boy as his mother and older sister were watching amused and fondly as he stumbled over lyrics but excitedly kicking red shoes against his stroller. Saito was talking to a group of adults and seemed to be in an intense conversation—though for Saito that could probably mean he was talking about anything, food most likely. Robert though surprised Arthur the most. He was sitting, legs crossed, with a group of children and was listening deeply as they talked. Arthur had seen Robert in the groove of toy creation but never so relaxed. With his father's intensity, it shouldn't surprise Arthur that he would enjoy children so much. Something had gone wrong for Robert their freshmen year, maybe he felt too much pressure from his father, but It actually saddened Arthur to realize that Robert would have been a good Santa and that the opportunity was tainted for him. He watched Robert fold a piece of paper a parent had given him and with the help of a spare pencil created a crafty pinwheel which he blew on and gifted to a child. He would have been a good Santa, but he was a talented elf as well.

Yusuf came to Arthur's side when Sizzy's turn arose.

"I have no idea how you do it?" Yusuf said.

"Do what?" He asked distracted.

"Put up with Eames," Yusuf said. "Don't get me wrong, he's my mate and all but he is intense, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Arthur said. "He's very serious about Santa."

"That he is. Almost as intense as you are as an elf," Yusuf smirked. "You two are quite the pair."

 

 

 

It was their first time in new York as team Rudolph and so Eames insisted they go out for dinner. They picked a sit down restaurant and Arthur ordered a steak and Eames ordered enchiladas. Their group arranged themselves so that Arthur and Eames were sat next to each other and Eames seemed to take that as reason enough to put pieces of his enchilada on Arthur's plate and Arthur reciprocated by giving him slices of his steak. Everyone else laughed at them and Arthur wondered how he and Eames became so close. Their team seemed to see them as 'Arthur and Eames' now as opposed to just Arthur and just Eames.

After dinner they showed everyone around New York: horse drawn carriage rides, the large tree at Rockefeller Center and Time Square. In the end it was pretty late and all the walking had tired everyone out, but Arthur thought that it might have been one of the more fun nights for him. It felt nice to show them the Christmas spirit of New York alongside Eames.

 

"Eames," Arthur called as he was walking to the workshop the next morning. "How are you feeling today?"

"Morning Arthur," Eames yawned.

"This is the first morning I've seen you tired," Arthur said.

"I just need some coffee or tea...or anything with caffeine," he said.

"Are you heading to the workshop? There's a coffee stand on the way."

Eames nodded and they continued walking. They came across the stand and Eames ordered a pumpkin latte with a tired smile in Arthur's direction to wake him up. Arthur settled for a hot chocolate and a giant snickerdoodle cookie. He broke off a piece for Eames who greedily ate it.

"Today's a big day," Eames mumbled. "After lunch we are visiting kids in the hospital," he explained.

Arthur nodded. Today was their last assignment. The group would be finishing off last minute toys and then Arthur and Eames would be off. Tomorrow they would turn in their elf on a shelf monitor and start packing to go home for Christmas. And after that was a straight shot to graduation a week later. It was bitter sweet because while Arthur enjoyed the thought of graduating, he had come to enjoy his group: Sizzy and Yusuf's bickering, Eames' friendship with everyone, Saito's cheapness, even Robert who had not spoken a word to Arthur since he snapped at him.

"If it's in the afternoon, you didn't need to come till later," Arthur said. "Why don't you go back to your dorm and sleep some more."

Eames smiled at him. "Arthur," he said surprised. "Are you encouraging bad Santa habits? I'm not just here for the milk and cookies, y'know." He held up the former since he had already gobbled up his piece of the cookie.

"You remember that?" He asked awkwardly and Eames shrugged.

"Besides, today is our last day. Maybe we can arrange a celebration tomorrow or something small..." He trailed off.

"Yeah that would be fun," he agreed softly.

They eventually joined their team in the workshop and Arthur got ready getting to work. Eames tried to assist everyone when he could. He became more alert as his coffee flowed through his system.

Around 11, the group finished production and helped Arthur and Eames pack the new toys into their bag. As they left to go find Alfie, Arthur felt guilty that they would be cleaning the workshop without him to help. He silently promised to bake them cookies for tomorrow for being wonderful teammates.

As they landed in Central Park, Arthur had the small realization that this would most likely be his last visit to New York. After this he would most likely work in a workshop and maybe get promoted to manager but he had a feeling there would be slim to no chance he would get the opportunity to serve as Santa's Little Helper again. Thought to be fair, it wouldn't be the same without Eames. It was odd to think that he would desire such a job or even enjoy working with Eames when just two weeks ago he couldn't stand Santas let alone Eames.

They stopped by a vendor for a quick lunch and enjoyed the sights of New York City for the last time with daylight and then made their way to the hospital. They were led to the children's ward. An open communal room had been set up and decorated with construction paper ringlets and white cutout snowflakes. One wall had drawings and Arthur moved towards it get a good look at what they drew. There were family portraits, stick figures and stick pets, and—one that made him smile—Santa flying in his sleigh. There was a table in the center with cookies and carrots—two odd snack choices that didn't seem to make much sense together—and milk cartons. The nurse who led them here said she would be back with the children in a few moments.

Eames turned to him. "Are you ready?" He asked.

Arthur nodded. This day looked to be the most casual of all their gift giving days and that had Arthur a bit nervous. The other days had been fine because there was a line and Arthur hardly had to speak to anyone but Eames.

"You look like this is your fist time doing this," Eames said.

"I'm not very good with children," he said.

"Don't be ridiculous. I imagine you're quite great with children." Eames said. "You'll be fine. I promise. It won't be so different from previous days."

Arthur nodded and heard the sounds of children chattering.

From down the hall, he saw several children moving in their direction. There were quite about eleven kids, a few in wheel chairs and one with an IV still connected. For the most part they seemed to light up at the sight of Eames in his full Santa glory and he seemed to light up at the sight of them as well.

Arthur hung back as Eames went into full Santa mode and began to engage the children in conversation. Arthur wasn't sure if it would be appropriate to join in as the children were excited to see Santa and not his elf. Instead he tried to relax as he watched them interact and one of the children trying to sneak a peek into his toy bag.

"I like your ears."

Arthur twitched. He touched a pointed ear and looked down to see a child at his side, looking back up at him. With everyone else focused on Eames, Arthur was surprised anyone knew he was even here.

"Hello," he said, "And thanks...I guess."

"Are you an elf?" She asked.

"I'm Santa’s Little Helper," he said with a wry smile.

"Yeah," the kid looked at his hat, "but are you a real elf?"

Arthur paused.

"Is he really Santa? Not like 'old' Santa but like 'a' Santa? My mom says there's millions of Santas and that's how everyone gets toys and that there are so many elves that there is an elf for every child."

"Well your mom sounds really clever," Arthur said. It wasn't necessarily true, the numbers certainly weren't that high but it was a more practical theory than the popular opinion of just one Santa—old Saint Nick, Kris Kringle or whatever they called him.

"So you are an elf?" The child grew excited. "And he is Santa?"

Arthur nodded.

"But don't tell anyone, let's keep it our little secret," he smiled as the child's eyes grew wide. Their society wasn't in danger by telling one child this. No one would believe her if she did tell.

"Can anyone be in elf? How are snowflakes made? Is the north pole real?" She couldn't contain her excitement.

"Not just anyone can be in an elf but that's not important when it comes to Christmas. Just be festive, be selfless and love. And don't I know about snowflakes. I think that's more Mother Nature than Christmas elves. And yeah the North Pole is real."

"What's it like? The North Pole?"

Arthur thought for a moment and saw Eames playing with the children who just seemed to love him. He smiled softly to himself.

"Someone a lot wiser than me once described the North Pole a lot like New York," the kid’s eyebrows raised excitedly at that. "You can feel Christmas thrumming through you."

"I can feel it," the child said.

Arthur smiled and felt it too. "So can I."

"What’s you name?" He asked.

"Chloe," she said.

"Hi, Chloe. My name is Arthur."

Arthur and the child sat on their own while the other children clamored around Eames, A lot of them excited to receive their toys and were excitedly tearing into the wrapping paper. These past two weeks, Arthur's seen a lot of kids receive their toys, some made by him, the rest by his teammates. He was right that there was satisfaction in seeing his creations loved by a child, but he was wrong when he thought the festivities didn't matter. That Santa didn't matter. Eames was laughing at a child who was particularly energetic over what gift he had just received. It was Santa that set these kids alight but it was Santa who lifted their spirits even here in the clinical white walls of the hospital that even Santa could find them here.

Arthur looked over at his companion and quirked his head to the side. "Don't you want to meet Santa?" He asked.

Chloe shrugged, not meeting his eyes.

Arthur was not very good with kids, not like Eames who had all the energy in the world and the understanding into a child's mind. Not like Arthur who was too much of a pragmatist...too efficient. He didn't have much tact when it came to people.

"Your friends look like they are having fun," he said.

"Santa won't be able to give me what I want," she mumbled.

"Why don't you ask him?" He asked.

She looked over at Eames.

"Can he fix me so I can go home?"

Arthur felt his heart ache. 'Oh.' He looked at the child and fought the sadness. She wouldn't want to see that. "No, I don't suppose he can."

"Momma says Santa isn't a doctor," Chloe said. "She said I should ask him for a toy, but there's nothing that I really want." She looked at him with imploring eyes. "I hate being sick. Momma says I need to brave while I'm here but I get scared. Momma and daddy aren't always here and I just want to go home." She leaned into Arthur's knee and hugged it. He gently rubbed her back.

He could relate to being scared. She was so strong at so young and yet Arthur at 21 felt leagues behind her. He had been afraid of stepping out of what he knew, exploring the world with Eames, letting Eames in, and acknowledging his feelings for him. Arthur was afraid of failure, but now he understood he was more afraid of success. All his life he sabotaged himself. He didn't take opportunities and closed himself off to anyone or anything that threatened his little bubble because he was afraid to live. How sad was that? He was nothing compared to this little girl who was sick and suffering, in a place that wasn't home away from her family. And she was still fighting. He had nothing on her courage or strength.

"I think I can understand a little bit," Arthur said softly. "About being scared. But do you want to know something?"

"Is it a secret?" She sniffled. "I'm good at keeping secrets."

"It's not a secret," he said and she looked a bit disheartened. "No, it's something I see very clearly."

"What do you see?" She asked.

"That you are very brave," he said. "And very strong."

"But I get scared," she said confused.

"You can't be brave without being scared," he said.

"Really?" She asked.

"Really," he repeated.

"I'm brave?" She seemed to need to the encouragement. He nodded.

"I know Santa might not have what you want in that bag if his but do you want to go over there with me. I need to do something brave and I'd like to borrow your strength."

Her mind seemed to expand with imagination at that statement. She seemed flattered and excitedly nodded.

"You can borrow my strength all you want, Mr. Elf because you're my friend," she said simply. She held his hand and they walked over to Eames. He had passed out toys to all the children and was playing with some of them. Arthur and Chloe approached him. The little girl squeezed his hand then let go.

Arthur fell to his knees beside Eames.

"Hello, Arthur," Eames greeted.

"Hello, Eames."

"Are you alright—"

Arthur leaned forward and kissed Eames gently through his fake beard. It wasn't the best kiss because of that ridiculous beard but Eames got the hint and tried his best to respond but they ended up breaking away when the children around them began to giggle.

 

Arthur did it. He kissed Eames. No mistletoe, no tradition to hide behind. No excuses. They couldn't talk about it because the children demanded their attention. They played with the children until it was time to go. The children were sad and cried out to the nurses to let Santa and his elf stay longer but were soothed by their caregivers and slowly relinquished little hands from their clothes. Arthur saw Chloe watching him and he reached into his pocket, happy that he had packed his lion. He pulled it out and stared at his woodcarving and then at Little Chloe. He walked towards her and knelt.

"You didn't get your gift from Santa, but how about one from me?"

She reached for the lion and held it tightly.

"Did you make it?" She asked. He nodded.

"I want you to have it," he said. She hugged him tightly. He paused for a moment before uttering, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Elf, and thank you," she said

He gave her an extra squeeze before standing up and leaving with Eames.

They walked quietly through the city. Eames reached out slowly and wrapped an arm around Arthur's shoulder. Arthur appreciated that they didn't talk. He was feeling a lot of things, sadness and clarity all rolled into one.

They took a cab back to Central Park, and like clockwork Alfie was there waiting for them. They road silently back to the North Pole and when they went their separate ways from Alfie, Arthur grabbed Eames' hand.

"I like you, Eames," he said without pretense.

"I like you too, Arthur," he squeezed his hand.

"It took me a while to get the courage. I'm sorry I made you wait so long," he said.

Eames chuckled. "Arthur, these past two weeks, I've been having so much fun with you. It's been one of the best Christmases ever for me."

"Christmas hasn't even come yet," Arthur said. It was into two days.

"I already know," Eames said.

Tomorrow Arthur will turn in the elf on a shelf to Professor Arnet and Professor Kringle. Team Rudolph will celebrate a job well done and Arthur thinks he'll bake everyone cookies. Tomorrow Eames will come back with him to his dorm and Arthur will serve him homemade eggnog—because he knows Eames loves eggnog—and they will spend Christmas Eve together cuddled up on Arthur's tiny bed listening to Christmas music. Arthur knows Eames will sing aloud maybe Arthur will join in. Christmas will come and with it the real world. That part was unknown but he wasn't afraid to face it; he would not desperately cling to what he could control but welcome the uncontrollable with one hand clasped tightly in Eames'.

He smiled at him and leaned forward and welcomed a proper kiss from Eames. "Well then, Merry Christmas."

 

The end

**Author's Note:**

> I can hear music  
> I can hear music  
> The sound of the city baby seems to disappear  
> I can hear music  
> Sweet sweet music  
> Whenever you touch me baby  
> Whenever you're near  
> \- "I can hear music" the beach boys 
> 
> There was a news story about Santa pretending to be asleep with a sleeping baby lying on top of him that inspired that inspired that first photo shoot.
> 
> Also FAO Schwarz is no longer at its 5th Avenue location. They’re planning to move closer to Times Square.


End file.
